(WFSB) – Garbage and discarded fishing lines are killing wildlife along the Connecticut shoreline.
An osprey was lost last weekend after being tangled up in a web of nylon.
Christine Cummings is trying to help someone who came across a baby owl on a trail.
Cummings is co-founder of A Place Called Hope, an organization that rescues and cares for raptors.
Last Sunday she and her team got called to aid an osprey that was 85 feet up in a tree in East Lyme.
“It was entangled in fishing line. Its leg, its foot and its wing were all wrapped up and every time it tried to get away from this line it just tangled itself tighter,” said Cummings.
The bird of prey could not be saved.
The concern is not just about fishing lines, but all types of discarded garbage.
“It’s not just fishing line it’s balloon ribbon, kite string, it’s 6-pack ring holder, blueberry netting, its plastic bags and guess what else? Its face masks,” said Cummings.
Fishermen Eyewitness News talked to say they clean up after themselves.
“We find some fishing line but generally you won’t see that on the water that will somehow disappear until an animal gets caught up in it,” said John Ziogas of Bristol.
“I make sure I do that kind of thing at home cutting up all the plastic and not getting into the areas where animals can be effected by them,” said Beth Schaff of North Haven.
Copyright 2022 WFSB. All rights reserved.
